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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Messy House

Last week my friend posted on her blog the difficulties of keeping things clean while you are home schooling. She even posted a picture of her messy counter and asked us to do the same. We are blessed to have an extra bedroom in our house that we use as a school room. Everything is organized and labeled. I even have a chalk board. Here is a picture of the room

This is the room in which I spend the second largest part of my day. This is the only room in my house that is ever clean on a regular basis. Here is the reason - the toddler is not allowed in this room ever! The twins are only allowed in this room when permission is given and usually that means an adult is already in the room. So you may wonder how do I keep them out? Baby gates are my best friend. But here is the problem: while Eliana & I spend hours some days working on school, the boys have free reign of the house. So on an average day this is what my living room looks like.

This actually is not that bad. Most of the mess is toys. Some days I find cereal all over the floor, wet wipes and diapers spread every where. The furniture has even been rearranged and tipped upside down. This is also only one room! I'm not brave enough yet to post pictures of the mounds of laundry all over the dining room table or the kitchen sink full of dirty dishes.

My friend's post reminded me of a speaker I heard at the Cincinnati home school convention last spring. I enjoyed her session so much I bought her book. Susan Kemmerer wrote Homeschool Supermom... NOT! On the first page she shows a picture of her kitchen counter which looks very similar to mine. It is a great read. She shares real stories of her life as she home schools her 9 children. She connects Scripture with what is going on in her life and how she has learned from it. It is a good reminder for me that homeschooling really isn't all about my kids but also what God is trying to change in me while I train my children. So maybe some day I will be honest enough to post pictures of the kitchen or even worse my bedroom! Until then I will continue on this journey to which God has called me.